CV

General Information

Full Name Cristian C. Beltran-Hernandez
Languages English (Advanced), Japanese (Conversational), Spanish (Native)

Research Interests

  • Robot Manipulation
    • Contact-rich manipulation tasks
    • Assembly Automation
    • Task and Motion Planning
  • Robot Learning
    • Reinforcement Learning
    • Multimodal Learning
    • Force/Tactile feedback control

Education

  • 2022
    PhD in Engineering
    Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
    • Learning force control for contact-rich manipulations with position controlled robots.
    • Industrial assembly automation with ROS and MoveIt.
  • 2019
    MEng in Intelligent Systems
    Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
    • Learning robot manipulation via Reinforcement Learning.
    • Learning force control for contact-rich manipulations with position controlled robots.
  • 2019
    BSc in Computer Science
    University of La Sabana, Chia, Colombia
    • Thesis topic: Development of a fuzzy Logic-based system to monitor and control an algae bio-reactor on a PLC.

Experience

  • Apr 2024 - Present
    Senior Researcher
    OMRON SINIC X Corporation, Osaka, Japan
    • Leading research on robot learning of contact-rich manipulation for automation of industrial assembly task and every day tasks.
  • Apr 2023 - Mar 2024
    Research Engineer
    OMRON SINIC X Corporation, Osaka, Japan
    • Leading research on robot learning of contact-rich manipulation from cooking robots to assembly automation.
  • Oct 2022 - Mar 2023
    Visiting Researcher
    OMRON SINIC X Corporation, Osaka, Japan
    • Research on contact-rich robot manipulation for a cooking robot: Learning to slice food
  • Jun 2021 - Oct 2022
    Participant
    Google Summer of Code & MoveIt, Osaka, Japan
    • Worked with the open-source organization MoveIt to develop a Simultaneous Trajectory Execution module for the popular motion planner MoveIt.
  • Apr 2021 - Sep 2022
    Research Intern
    OMRON SINIC X Corporation, Osaka, Japan
    • Part-time October 2021 - September 2022
      • Research on robot manipulation for a cooking robot.
    • Full-time March - September 2021
      • Implementation of a ROS-based autonomous robotic system for industrial assembly. Additionally, developing motion controllers on top of the motion planner framework MoveIt. Results: Our system was showcased at the World Robot Summit (WRS2020) on the Industrial Robot Category - Assembly Challenge. We obtained 3rd place and a special award from the Japanese Society of Artificial Intelligence JSAI.
  • Apr 2018 - Mar 2021
    Ph.D. Student Researcher
    Osaka University & FUJIFILM Corporation, Osaka, Japan
    • Working with Prof Kensuke Harada and Fujifilm R&D to create motion planning solutions for industrial assembly tasks based on Reinforcement Learning techniques.
  • Oct 2016 - Mar 2017
    Software Developer
    La Cadena Retail Solutions Ltda, Bogota, Colombia
    • Design and development of an administrative web application. Backend based on Java 8 using Spring framework and its modules Spring Boot, Spring Security, Spring Cloud and Spring Rest. Database Microsoft SQL Server. Frontend based on JavaScript ES6, React JS, Redux and Material Design. Communication based on Restful Webservices.
  • Aug 2013 - Mar 2016
    Software Engineer
    Netlogistik, Bogota, Colombia
    • Software design and implementation aimed at supply chain, mainly warehouse management systems (WMS RedPrairie / JDA). Responsible for design, implementation and integration of new modules and customizations on a multi-language environment: Java, C#, C, Groovy, SQL Server, Oracle SQL and PL SQL. Meanwhile, providing consulting services during phases of design, configuration, implementation, and go-live of warehouse management systems (RedPraire /JDA) with several national and international clients.

Grants and Awards

  • 2024
    • Award for 2nd best poster at IROS 2024 Collecting, Managing, and Utilizing Data through embodied Robots workshop
    • Award for best poster at ICRA 2024 Cooking Robotics workshop
    • Award for best video at ICRA 2024 Cooking Robotics workshop
  • 2023
    • KAKENHI Scientific Research (A), Co-Investigator
  • 2019 - 2022
    • Awarded Ph.D. scholarship by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
  • 2017 - 2019
    • Awarded M.Sc. scholarship by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
  • 2021
    • 3rd Place at World Robot Summit 2020 Industrial Assembly Challenge
    • Japanese Society of Artificial Intelligence (JSAI) Award at World Robot Summit 2020 Industrial Assembly Challenge
  • 2019
    • Best Oral Presentation (優秀講演賞) 第20回計測自動制御学会システムインテグレーション部門講演会 (SI2019)
    • Best Paper Award Finalist at 2019 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integrations (SII)
  • 2018
    • Finalist of International Session Best Paper Award at The 36th Annual Conference of the Robotics Society of Japan (RSJ)

Academic services

  • Program committee
    • IEEE/SICE SII2025 Special session: Reconfigurable Manipulation Robots
    • IEEE/SICE SII2025 Workshop: Reconfigurable Manipulation Robots
    • ICRA 2022 Workshop: Reinforcement Learning for Contact-Rich Manipulation
  • Technical Program Committee
    • IEEE ANDESCON 2020, Ecuador
  • Associate Editor
    • ICRA 2025
  • Conference Reviewer
    • RSS, ICRA, IROS, CASE, ETCM, ANDESCON
  • Journal Reviewer
    • IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
    • IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering
    • Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence
    • Experimental Techniques (EXTE)